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Taliban bans many subjects for women in Afghan varsities_我的网站

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A | WASHINGTON -- Saddled with a dysfunctional Congress, President Joe Biden has the task of assuring European Union leaders on Friday that the United States can nonetheless deliver on promises to send tens of billions of dollars' worth of aid to wartime Ukraine and Israel.The Oval Office sit-down comes at a moment when domestic U.S. political chaos could further destabilize an increasingly chaotic world. Many of Biden's shared priorities with the EU depend on getting a budget through Congress — a tough task given that the House lacks an elected speaker and differences with some Republican lawmakers over aid for Ukraine could force a federal government shutdown in November.Along with addressing Ukraine's efforts to repel Russia and the fallout from Hamas' attack on Israel, the U.S. and EU leaders are also figuring out how to manage climate change, economic competition with China and trade and tax issues. One day ahead of his meeting with Biden, European Council President Charles Michel expressed optimism that Biden can deliver on his promises to help arm and financially support Ukraine.“I’m really confident and also I’m grateful for Joe Biden’s personal leadership,” Michel said. “He will do everything to ensure this support will be confirmed.”The U.S. president has cultivated a personal relationship with Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who calls Biden “dear Joe.” Both the EU and U.S. pride themselves for being devoted to democratic principles, a source of unity as they navigate Russia's war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas. They have framed their support for Israel as a reflection of shared democratic values and stressed the importance of following international law in military operations.But the reality of democracies is that foreign policy agreements can change with elections and competing interests at home can overshadow diplomacy. The two partners still have differences to reconcile on trade, economic matters and the incentives for shifting to renewable energy sources. The U.S. and EU still need to finalize an agreement on environmentally sustainable steel and aluminum production in order to avoid the tariffs imposed during Donald Trump's presidency.Biden's own incentives on moving away from fossil fuels have left Europe “a little bit uncomfortable,” said Federico Steinberg, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.While the EU welcomes U.S. efforts to “accelerate the green transition,” Steinberg said, some elements of Biden's programs are protectionist in nature, discriminate against trade partners and undermine the World Trade Organization system that the EU would like to revive.But for now, the U.S. and E.U. are focused on the big challenges of war and solidarity in their words and policy choices. Von der Leyen said Thursday that the “core” of the Oval Office conversation will be about Ukraine and Israel.“The winds are not just blowing today — today they are gale force,” she said in remarks at the conservative Hudson Institute. “Our democracies are under sustained and systemic attack by those who abhor freedom.”In addition to sanctioning Russia, EU countries have provided close to $90 billion in assistance to Ukraine, including $27 billion in military aid, von der Leyen said. But there are open questions as to whether the U.S. commitment could waver after having provided four rounds of aid to Ukraine that total $113 billion, a sum that includes replacing U.S. military equipment sent to Kyiv.“Now is the time to double down,” von der Leyen said Thursday.In a separate interview with The Associated Press, Michel said the U.S. and E.U. would still need to make progress on addressing the steel tariffs and defending the interests of European businesses. But Michel said both parties are aligned on Ukraine, and Europe is “doing what’s needed and we are preparing the next decisions to mobilize more and more funding, more military equipment for Ukraine and for the Ukrainians.”Biden is expected to ask for $105 billion in additional funding Friday, including $60 billion for Ukraine, much of which would replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles provided earlier. There’s also $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion for unspecified humanitarian efforts, $14 billion for managing the U.S.-Mexico border and fighting fentanyl trafficking and $7 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, which includes Taiwan. The proposal was described by three people familiar with the details who insisted on anonymity before the official announcement.But some House Republicans have questioned the value of aid to Ukraine at the levels sought by Biden. The GOP ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after a deal to temporarily keep the government open through November 17. Republican lawmakers have failed to find a successor, leading to concerns that Biden's commitments with the EU could be in jeopardy.The U.S. president offered his challenge to Congress in a Thursday evening speech by outlining the core idea behind his spending proposal:"American values are what make us a partner that nations want to work with. We put all that at risk if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel."__AP writer Raf Casert contributed to this report from Brussels.。 Kabul, Oct 15 (UNI) A year after banning most teenage girls from attending school, the Taliban are imposing sweeping restrictions on which courses women can enroll for in at public universities, a BBC report said.

The choice for female students can vary from university to university, and depending on which part of the country you're in, the BBC found. Women are allowed to take medicine and nursing in all provinces, as well as teacher training and Islamic studies.

But veterinary science, engineering, economics and agriculture appear off-limits to women nationwide, while opportunities to study journalism are extremely limited.

The militant group have said the correct "Islamic environment" needs to be created for older girls to be allowed back into schools. However, more than a year after they returned to power this still has not happened in most provinces, with reports suggesting hardliners in the group remain opposed to it.

Many girls did not get to complete their final year at school as girls were banned from high school by the Taliban after they seized power in August 2021, the BBC said.

The Taliban did, however, make the decision that girls who were in the last year of school could also sit university entrance exams.

This hope though appears short-lived with the limitations on the subjects being introduced for women only.

At several universities, the BBC report said, female students were given the option of taking a test in subjects such as nursing, midwifery or literature, which are among the courses on offer at the seven faculties open to them at Nangarhar, but not in journalism.

University professors who supervised the entrance examination there confirmed to the BBC that boys would be allowed to choose any subject they want.

Officials expect 100,000 students (including 30,000 women) were likely to take university entrance exams in Afghanistan this year, the BBC said.

The academic year starts either in March or August, and it usually takes two to three months for entrance exam results to be announced. Now, with the Taliban back in power, nobody is sure when the results will be released, the BBC reported.

Male and female students have been taking the exams separately - in line with Taliban rules on segregating students by gender - for example boys in the morning, girls in the afternoon or by using screens in exam halls. In some provinces where the candidate numbers were high, entrance exams were held over two or three days.

Activists told the BBC, the number of female students applying for university will fall dramatically in the coming years, unless the Taliban reopen secondary schools to girls from grades 6 to 12.

Taliban officials are downplaying the restrictions. Abdul Qadir Khamush, who heads the examinations division in the Ministry of Higher Education, says girls can choose their favourite subject, with the exception of just three or four.

"We need to provide separate classes for women. In some areas the number of female candidates are low. So we are not allowing women to apply for certain courses."

Officials are yet to reveal the number of university places on offer this year.

Afghanistan's education sector was badly affected after the Taliban takeover and there has been an exodus of trained academics after the withdrawal of US-led forces last year.

The country's economy has been largely dependent on foreign aid in recent decades, but aid agencies have partly - and in some cases fully - withdrawn support to the education sector after the Taliban refused to allow girls into all secondary schools.

Many of the teaching staff who remain go unpaid for months, the BBC reported.

Taliban restrictions on which subjects girls can study are not always uniformly applied across the country, the BBC discovered. For instance, in Kabul University, girls are still allowed on some courses in the journalism faculty.

But girls cannot circumvent the distance-rule. The Taliban have divided the country into a number of zones and girls are not allowed to study outside them, in what amounts to another very serious restriction based on sex, the BBC found.

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